Miscellaneous Cuteness

talking on the phone

Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass...it's learning to dance in the rain

Models in the Making

Today we finished our school shopping. We got shoes and a few more clothes. I'm not sure how I feel about Addy having to shop in the older girls section. I think she looks like a teenager in some of her clothes. Scary, at least she told me she doesn't want to be or look like a teenager. That gives me hope. Now if we could get rid of her teenage attitude. All we have left on our back to school to do list, is hair cuts. Only 7 days until school starts for Addy!

The Carter Cabin

Growing up, my best friend was my cousin Lisa. I loved spending time with her and her parents. We always had lots of fun together. Lisa's dad, my uncle Jim loves to fish. It's a genetic thing with the Carter's. They have a beautiful cabin near Strawberry reservoir. I loved spending time at the cabin with Lisa. We would play and explore and just have fun being kids. I remember one year we visited the property before the cabin was built and spread wild flower seeds. They never grew, but it's a great memory. Every year we were invited to the cabin for a party. I hadn't been to the cabin in about 7 years. Last Saturday, we went to the cabin for a party. It was lots of fun. It's such a gorgeous drive and it brought back lots of memories. It was fun to watch my kids play with my cousins kids. Maren loved just walking around the porch and pointing at everything. Addy and Sydnee went exploring. I had lots of fun catching up with my cousins and aunts and uncles. My aunt Rosemarie is the deer whisperer. She got a deer to come right up to the porch and the kids were able to feed it. It was such a fun and relaxing day. I am so grateful for my wonderful extended family. Thank you Carter's for sharing your cabin with us, we love you!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Van Week 7

This week we were privileged to have Mom/Grandma accompany us on our adventure. We took it easy today. GMom took all of us to The Garden Room for lunch. Besides feeling a little under-dressed, we had a wonderful time. The Garden Room is a little fancy restaurant at the entrance to Thanksgiving Point gardens. I think we all felt a little like Fancy Nancy, it was kind of a fancy little place to eat. The food was good, but the company was even better. Addy practiced looking fancy while eating. Maren wasn't in the best of moods, so after lunch we headed home for a nap. Maren and Aunt Camille had naps while Mom and I looked at geneology stuff on the internet and visited. What a great day, I love spending time with my Mom and sister. By the way, how did Mom escape having her picture taken? Hmmmm.
P.S. Click here to see a picture of Camille taking a nap
P.P.S. Just Kidding!

Family Home Evening with Veggie Tales

After our lovely day today (see previous post) we had a family home evening lesson on telling the truth. We watched veggie tales "Larry boy and the fib from outer space" It took a few minutes of discussion afterward, but I think the kids finally understand that there really aren't fibs from outer space. I also think that they understand they have to tell the truth, and take care of their property i.e. toys. Let's hope tomorrow is a better day!

Remorse...

I have a confession to make, I have a bit of a temper. It flared today, not too bad, but it flared. There is one thing I don't tolerate, and that is lying. Addy lied to me this afternoon about something totally stupid. I thought I handled it pretty well. She was punished by not being able to go and play with her friend after lunch. We had weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It wasn't pretty. She is my stubborn child who doesn't back down. After we both calmed down, I made the mistake of walking into the playroom. It was a complete disaster. It usually is a disaster and it doesn't bother me too much because I don't see it all the time. Today it really made me mad, especially when I saw the writing everywhere. Addy is 7 and she still feels the need to label everything with her name. What really made me snap was the mural on the wall. She wanted to make the wall look pretty, so she drew a scene with a Christmas tree and presents on the wall. I snapped! The only positive was that she told me the truth that she was the one who drew on the wall. I escorted her to her room and asked her not to come out. 30 minutes and 4 trash bags later, I had removed every toy that I could and stuffed everything into the storage closet. I'm starting to feel a little bad about this and that maybe it wasn't the way to handle this. I'm rationalizing by telling myself at least I didn't yell and scream and beat my child. Now I have to figure out a way for the kids to earn their toys back. By confessing this, I hope somewhere, someone is laughing because they have either done or wanted to do the same thing. Anyone?

Sisterhood of the traveling van week 6

The train, the train!

This week's adventure took us to the booming metropolis of Kamas, Utah. Camille had the desire to see Kamas, so we packed up and headed out Thursday morning. It's a pretty drive going through Provo canyon and Heber. If you have never been to Kamas, it's up above Heber, past the Jordanelle reservoir. It's a nice little and I mean little town. We continued driving through Kamas into Oakley where we stopped and had lunch at the Road Island diner. I remembered seeing it on the food network show "diners, drive-ins and dives" It was a fun little place to stop. The diner was made in a factory back in 1939. If you want to know more click here. The owners have tried to keep the interior as original as possible. It was like stepping back in time. The real food looked good, it was a little expensive and a little greasy, but I would expect that from a diner. I left hungry, but such is the life of a glutard. We had fun though. After lunch, we drove around some more. We drove into Woodland and on Bench creek road, past Oakcrest L.D.S. girls camp. I spent the summer of 1998 working at Oakcrest, it was a great experience. It was fun to show my girls where I worked and to see how much growth there has been in Woodland in the last 12 years. We stopped at the campgrounds at Jordanelle for a quick pit stop. Then we drove back to Heber. We stopped at the Dairy Keen for ice cream. Dairy Keen is one of my favorite places to stop in Heber. They have trains that run along the ceiling with scenes from the Heber valley. Maren loved watching the trains while we shared ice cream. Did I mention that they have yummy ice cream? They do, now that Granny's in Heber is no longer as good, I would have to say that Dairy Keen has the best shakes, at least in Heber. After our yummy ice cream, we headed back home. It was another fabulous week of travels and fun with Aunt Camille.

1 year checkup

Maren had her one year checkup on Monday. She is a very healthy and tall girl. Here are the stats: Weight 26 lbs. 97th percentile, height 30.75 inches 93rd percentile, head circumference 18 inches 70th percentile. Our doctor was surprised at how tall she is, let's hope she will continue to grow tall and healthy.

Wacky Weather

within minutes, my plants were under water, the white things in the flowers are hail stones

that's a nickel, we couldn't find a dime

We've had some of the craziest weather this year. This last week we have had lots of thunder, lightning and rain. These pictures were taken Wednesday evening. Just as I was getting ready to leave for mutual, there was a huge storm. Rain and hail were coming down like crazy. I decided to wait it out and leave a little late for the church, it was a good choice! Our zucchini plants look like someone shot holes through the leaves and some of our tomatoes and zucchini actually have little pock marks in them.

We Survived...

Just an update, we all survived the last few days. I'm happy to report that all 3 extra children were delivered to their mother in one piece. I'm not sure who was happier to see their mother the kids or me ;) I may have not been able to go on trek this year, but I was able to do my part and contribute to the cause. Welcome home trekkers!

Now I know...

Oaky, so I have always known that I wasn't meant to have a large family, but now I know for sure that 3 kids is the perfect number for me. I seem to be the neighborhood babysitter and it seems like most of my friends have 3 kids as well. When you add my 3 plus another 3 it equals pure chaos. A few months ago I volunteered to help some friends out. They were going to go on the pioneer trek with our youth. I volunteered to keep their daughter who is Addy's age. We've watched her before for a few days and it went well. The mom asked about a month ago if I could take one more, I said yes. A few days ago she said there was a problem with one of the other families and if I could take on one more. What was I supposed to say, at this point it was only a few days before leaving. Being the nice person I am, I said yes. I was trying to be nice and helpful, but my sanity is already teetering here. My girls have been fighting like crazy and now I have added 3 more to the mix. It's an absolute mad house around here. I'm not complaining, I am happy to help out, but I certainly don't have the personality to be able to handle 6 kids. 3 days, I can handle this. Please pray for me that I won't have a nervous breakdown in the next few days ;) Serenity Now!!!

Swimming Lessons

Addy and Sydnee have been taking swimming lessons the last two weeks. They love it and ask me all day if it's time to get ready. Our lessons are at 5 p.m. so they ask a lot. Addy is quite comfortable in the water, but Sydnee is still a little nervous. Hopefully, we can come back and practice so they will both be more comfortable.

Fashion Show

My parents gave the girls some money for school clothes. It lasted 2 days until we went to Walmart. They begged and pleaded and finally talked mom into letting them get some school clothes. When we got home, we had to have a fashion show and make sure everything fit before removing tags. A huge THANK YOU to Grandma and Grandpa Williams for helping with school clothes. My budget also thanks you!

Birthday Cake

The Cake

gum paste shoes

blowing out the candles

That's a mighty big piece of cake

Ben gave Maren one of the shoes...She took a bite

Happy Baby

If there is one thing we know how to do at our house, it is stretching a birthday out. We had Maren's birthday cake on Sunday. We invited both sets of grandparents and all of the aunts and uncles. We had a small group, but it was lots of fun. Maren got a new ride on toy, a shape sorter and some money so we can get her pictures taken. I had a good time making the cake. It was a 3 day process, but it was fun. Maren loves shoes, especially eating them, so we decided that she needed a shoe cake. I found a template online and learned how to make gum paste. I'm not very artsy or creative, but I managed to dig up a little craftiness for the cake.

More Birthday Fun

Ben's company summer party was tonight at Hogle zoo. We had dinner at the zoo and then we had the zoo to ourselves for several hours. It was a little hot, but otherwise it was great. There weren't many people there so Maren could wander around and look and point at everything. She loved the giraffe's which is funny because I keep buying her giraffe toys, hmmm. The girls had their faces painted and they were able to ride the train and the carousel. Maren loved the carousel. She held on tight and would giggle every time her elephant went up and down. All three girls had a ball, it was a great way to end Maren's birthday. And of course, no family outing is complete without a trip to Denny's right? So, we found a Denny's on the way home so that the kids would be nice and full and ready for bed. Maren already loves yellow death AKA mac and cheese. On the way home she reached melt down status. She did great all day, but I am really grateful that all three girls are in bed and asleep. That's where I'm heading. Good night!